“Kia Kaha te Reo Māori” – that is this years theme for Māori language week (10–16 September 2018), a kaupapa McCaw Lewis is proud to support.

Commonly mistaken as an Enduring Power of Attorney, a Power of Attorney is a document that gives another person, an Attorney, the authority to act on your behalf in certain circumstances. Generally, a Power of Attorney will only apply while someone is out of the country or physically incapacitated. Enduring Powers of Attorney give an Attorney the authority to manage your property, and personal care and welfare matters, but is not revoked if you lose your mental capacity.

The Bright Line Test has recently been extended to five years. If you purchased a residential property on or after 29 March 2018 and it is sold within five years, you may be taxed on any profits made on the sale.

The current Trustee Act 1956 is silent as to whether beneficiaries are entitled to disclosure of particular trust information and documents. When the law is not clear, the Courts determine what would have been intended by Parliament when passing that particular law. This is exactly what has happened in the recent Supreme Court case Erceg v Erceg [2017] NZSC 28.

The past year has seen a number of Court decisions in the charities area which may impact on your charity. As has long been established, only charities that advance exclusively charitable purposes can remain registered charities under the Charities Act 2005. For a purpose to be charitable it must advance the public benefit in a way that is analogous to cases that have previously been held to be charitable, thus it is important to be aware of recent decisions and consider how they may impact your charity or its purposes.

Trust disputes often arise due to differing views and personalities amongst trustees and/or trustee misconduct. Sometimes a ‘problem trustee’ is willing to retire, and retirement and replacement simply happens via the trust deed. But often that is not the case, or is not possible, and the High Court needs to step in. This article addresses the High Court’s jurisdiction around trusts and, in particular, trustee removal and replacement.

In this article, we outline the changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 in relation to iwi participation in policy statements and plan changes which took effect on 19 April 2017.

The Taxation Bill proposes an amendment that extends deregistration tax rules to include non-registered charities that cease being charitable at law. The Bill also clarifies that assets will only be excluded from the calculation of deregistration tax if those assets have been transferred or disposed of. Further, payment to volunteers will only be deemed taxable income if it is in honorarium, and not a reimbursement, and there is the option to choose a tax rate on honoraria payments from 10%.

The Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 has made important changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 and four other Acts across a range of areas. This article identifies seven things that you should know about the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017.

The Care of Children Act 2004 makes provision for a parent to appoint Testamentary Guardians for their children through their will. If both parents (or one parent in some situations) die without a Testamentary Guardian appointed, it will be a decision of the Courts to appoint a guardian for your children. There is no guarantee that your child/children will be appointed a Testamentary Guardian that you would have chosen yourself.

A beneficiary of a Trust does not have a right (as such) to information held by the Trust. Beneficiaries can request information from trustees, however, trustees can refuse to provide it in exercising their fiduciary duties. But what does that mean/what process do they have to go through in deciding whether or not to disclose information? If the new Trusts Bill is enacted, the law around disclosure of information to beneficiaries will be made clearer.

In this article, we provide an update on the amendments to the land acquisition process as part of the recent resource legislation amendments.

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 acknowledges the importance of the marine and coastal area to all New Zealanders and provides for the recognition of the customary rights of iwi, hapū and whānau in the common marine and coastal area. Public access to the common marine and coastal area is guaranteed by the Act.

This article looks into the Regulatory Systems (Building and Housing) Amendment Act 2017 and the Unit Titles Amendment Regulations 2017, which both came into force on 30 May 2017.